Dead Rising: A Chronicle Untold
by KatieTheKillerOfZombies
Summary: Kasey finds herself in the town of Willamette, Colorado only to be trapped amidst herds of zombies! Her story reveals what happens to certain characters before Frank even meets them, and events that occur on the other side of the conspiracy.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: All characters, and etc. pertaining to the XBox 360 game Dead Rising are property of Capcom. Also, the main character's last name was taken from one of my favorite authors; S.D. Perry. Please enjoy!_

**Chapter 1**

_Who designs a shopping mall in the middle of nowhere?_ These words rang in Kasey's head as she continued to drive down the deserted road. _I guess if you want people to live in an area, you gotta give them something to do. _She shouldn't complain actually, this was her first building that she got to design and supervise on her own. A pretty tough job for a beginning architect, but Kasey was more than happy to take it.

_Until I discovered that I would have to travel to frickin' middle-of-nowhere, Wyoming._

She got to watch civilization practically deteriorate as she got closer to the building site. Her home city, busy with people, slowly became towns, then villages, then nothing at all as she followed a complicated arrangement of strange roads through Colorado leading to her destination. At least a little reprieve was on the way, she would reach a town called Willamette within a few miles, where she could stop for gas and get some lunch. A checkpoint, if nothing else.

Then she heard it, that dreadful sound that no traveler wants to hear; the sound of a dying engine. "Wonderful." She said as the car rolled to a stop at the side of the road. She ran her fingers through her short brown hair and opened the driver door, feeling a blast of heat from the afternoon sun. Black smoke started to rise out of the hood of the car. "Shit!" She popped the trunk and got a small emergency extinguisher. She ran to the front of the car and lifted the hood and found a small but evident fire starting. She quickly put it out and leaned on the bumper. _Not much to do now but try to push it to Willamette. This is exactly why I should've gotten a cell phone._

An hour or two later, Kasey pushed the broken piece of junk through the garage door of the only auto shop in town. The most stereotypical looking hick was there to greet her.

"Whoooooo wheeee! Looks like you messed this up purdy good! We'll have ter take 'er in to see what's exactly wrong. You don't mind waitin' though, wouldja? Not like you gotta choice there anyway miss…"

"Perry. Kasey Perry." _How very James-Bondish of me._

"Well there Miss Perry, you go get yurself some lunch, come back, and we'll see just how bad it really is. There's a luvly lil' restaurant just a lil' ways-"

"I'll find something myself, thanks."

With that Kasey left the smelly garage and started to walk down the road. Looks like they had a mall at least, and…that was it. _Go figure, another mall in a desolate location._ She looked around for somewhere to eat. There were a lot of little family restaurants, but Kasey decided to go with a modern-looking place. The food wasn't half bad, but these people were, to a city person, way too friendly; the type of people that talk to you while you eat and consider you family for that measly half hour that you spend dining together. At least it was kind of nice to be surrounded by caring people instead of cold-hearted, antisocial business people who wouldn't give a rat's-ass even if they ran you over.

It looked like the younger generation was starting to take over though. Kasey saw some punk and either his brother or his feeble-looking friend Aaron cussing away at each other with some bimbo twin sisters at a table in the corner. _Couldn't expect much less. _Anxious to get out of there, Kasey went back to the auto shop.

She found three large guys and a few newer-looking employees all looking at her car in wonder. _How many hicks does it take to fix a car?_ She went up to the one she had spoken to before, and she could tell by the look on his face that things were not going well.

"Why hello there Miss Perry, it seems that we've been havin' some problems with yur car…"

"Yeh, I could tell."

"Well, we called some people from the next town over, for their opinion of course…"

_Sure, their "opinion."_

"An' see, well, there's a special part that we have to order because we don't stock it here in the garage an' it could take a few days."

The word "days" sparked Kasey's hidden anger beyond control,

"A few DAYS?! Are you kidding me? Can't you just tow it to the next town over and I can get it fixed there? I don't have a few days to waste!"

"I'm sorry miss, but we only own one tow truck and we can't allow it ter go as far as the next town, besides, that car is toasted, it ain't goin' anywhere."

After hearing that, Kasey pushed the other mechanics aside and flipped the hood up furiously to look at it herself. With further inspection, she had to agree with them, it was pretty damn "toasted."

"Well, can I at least have this all in writing so I know I'm not getting scammed?"

The mechanic's face brightened a little.

"Sure can! Ronald! Go get that young kid that works the computer an' have 'em give this young lady a receipt!"

_Jesus._

Kasey found a small hotel she could stay in until she could get on the road again. _Okay, I was supposed to stay at the hotel in Wyoming a day or so anyway before the building began. It'll just be a tight schedule until then._ She found that the town actually pulled in a few tourists now and then, since two Japanese men were confusing the crap out of the woman at the register. So maybe it's not so desolate. I actually saw a good amount of people walking around outside.

She tried her best to fix the antennae on the old TV in her room, but without much prevail. She got the local news channel and some public access channel to work, but decided to get her daily exercise instead by checking out the pool.

The rest of the day she spent waiting for the phone to ring in her room in case the mechanic miraculously came up with another solution. _Fat chance of that, but what else am I supposed to do? If nothing happens tomorrow, I'll go check out that mall, I guess._ The thought that the mechanic wasn't going to call was assuring enough to allow her to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: All characters and etc. pertaining to the XBox 360 game Dead Rising are property of Capcom._

**Chapter 2**

The next day, Kasey woke up due to some sort of power surge that made the lights flash on and off. "Okay! OKAY! I'm up!" She looked at the clock, but saw only a flashing "12:00" due to the surge. It _felt _like it was late morning because she was still tired. "Man!" She was looking forward to being able to sleep in more. Traveling on the road must have made her somewhat lonely, because she found that she was talking to herself more often. She decided to get dressed and get an early start on the mall, before the crowds showed up. Before she left, she tried to check the news channel, but all she got were intervals between static along the lines of, "Reported…last night…attacks…spreading…stay…lock………" _It's always violence with the media, isn't it?_ But from what she could see, it seems the local news station cast dressed rather sloppy, and didn't have much of a budget for the station on that matter. "Piece of crap TV." And with that, she left for the mall. She avoided the seemingly drunk people on the way there. _Must've had a festival or something._

It was WAY bigger than Kasey had ever expected, it looked pretty new, and the architect for the place must have been very creative. Luckily, there weren't too many cars in the parking lot, thought it did seem that it opened early. When she went inside, it was really deserted. There were only a few people down the hall from where she stood, but otherwise the usual lame elevator music and recorded announcements echoed throughout. She looked at the map and found that there were five plazas and a food court. "Holy crap…I have a lot of shopping to do." She first looked for women's clothing stores and found a few near her in the Entrance Plaza. There was no one at the registers, no one in the stores, no one at all, she hadn't even seen a security guard around. "Well, Willamette, it looks like you're going to learn a very important lesson about city people." She felt a little guilty about stealing, but with no one around to force her, she wasn't going to pay. "I'm not that old yet, I can almost be considered a thieving kid."

After a half hour of no employees or security guards and tons of clothes switching, Kasey decided on a long-sleeve shirt, expensive jacket, sports sunglasses and brand name jeans, along with some killer leather boots, (no heel though, those were uncomfortable). But that's not the only thing she decided on, she thought it was time to get the hell out of there. It was getting creepy, and somebody should have spotted her on the cameras by now. She had stayed in the Entrance Plaza the entire time, and no one came to stop her.

Suddenly the gates for the first floor and all the stores started to reel down, and she heard people on the floor below shouting "Hey you! Wait!"

"Shit! I knew it!" She ran down the steps and out the front doors as fast as she could, thinking she could at least get away with some free clothes, but what she saw in the parking lot stopped her in her tracks…

_They're…they're…impossible…_

Within her sight were hundreds of human-like creatures shuffling across the parking lot, some missing limbs, skin, or had organs hanging out of their sides. Any skin they had left was a sickly, cold, gray color. They were still at least five meters from her, but that distance was closing in fast. By the time she managed to reenter the mall, the things were already crowding the front door. The gate to the front doors closed down behind her as she stopped in front of a group of people, taking heaving breaths after running. Kasey turned to look at the door again and saw the things pressed up against the heavy glass, but beyond them, in the sky, she could see a helicopter, a small orange and white blur that was soon followed by a small black blur. The black 'copter was too close though, like it was pursuing the other, and something fell out of the first one into the parking lot. _I hope that at least one of those is coming to help us._

"Are you crazy or something?"

Kasey turned to find an older man with a mustache and a white shirt standing close to her, with a grumpy look on his face. She was still too shocked to say much.

"Those things, they were-"

"Zombies, yes. Where the hell have you been all this time?"

"But, how…"

"There's no time to explain, we have to build a barricade in front of the door before the zombies get through. My name's Ryan, now could you please get your ass in gear and get stuff for the barricade?"

"But…helicopters! There were helicopters! They could be a rescue team!"

"Those helicopters are everywhere, they belong to the government, and they've boxed us in this town with no means of escape! There's no help coming, we have to defend ourselves! Now get moving!"

Kasey was forced to accept the fact that _zombies_ were attacking the mall for now. She'd have to sort through her confusion later. Everyone around her was gathering items for the barricade, except the few injured and a somewhat hysterical old lady running around. Since they were already getting things from the first floor, Kasey helped bring things down from the second floor. As she was walking back for more benches, a man walked in from a staff door off to the side and went down the stairs. He must have been a reporter because of the very expensive-looking camera he was carrying. From what she could see, he was getting the same story from Ryan as she got, and he had the same look of mixed disbelief and confusion on his face. While the man walked off to get more things for the barricade (obviously sent by Ryan) Kasey noticed that the hysterical old lady had seen something amidst the zombies outside. _And she's trying to get to it…the shit is about to hit the fan._


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: All characters and etc. pertaining to the XBox 360 game "Dead Rising" are property of Capcom._

Note from the author: I'm back! Happy to see me?

**Chapter 3**

"Madonna! My Madonna! I'll save you sweetie!" The old woman frantically tried to reach something outside by sliding benches over and messing with the door. The people trying to stop her must have been afraid of hurting her because she was able to push them away. The creatures crowded the open door and began flowing into the mall. Shock and terror reentered Kasey's mind;

_It's happening, those things…those zombies…are coming for us._ _Are they really what they seem to be?_

Her question was answered as she saw the zombies topple over a man and start to bite at his neck. Her mind was racing, looking for means of escape, but the zombies were filling the floor below quickly, and no one had seemed to come up with a plan.

_Vents. All the stores need vents, where would someone have designed the placement of the vents?_

She searched near the ceiling and in the corners. Sure enough, there was a vent with a cover. She used a bench to reach it and started to pry at it as she heard a man yell to the people below to get to the upper level. Kasey ran around the corner in time to see a man with dark skin run into the door the reporter had come out of. She looked over the railing for any survivors but could only hear screams of terror and pain echo from below. There was one man though, the reporter. He was still alive, and desperately fighting his way through the overwhelming crowd of zombies. He managed to reach the stairs and run through the door.

_Did that ONE guy just power his way through that pack of zombies? Follow him!_

Kasey ran after him only to be met by a group of zombies that had managed to either crawl or climb up the steps. There was a broken bench nearby so she quickly grabbed a 2x4 and readied herself. _They're not real people anymore, just remember that. I don't think they can even feel pain…_

Still trying to reason with herself, she swung as hard as she could at the nearest zombie and sent it tumbling into the crowd. That bought her enough time to run to the door. She crashed through it and ran down a narrow hall, she saw a door ahead to her left that said "Staff only", but something strange was going on; sparks were flying out of where the lock would usually be. "Wait!" she cried desperately, running out of breath. She reached the door and grabbed the handle but reflexively pulled her hand back after burning it on the hot metal. _THEY WELDED IT? So WHAT if it's a smart thing to do?! I'm trapped out here!_ She stood there less than a second knowing that the zombies had the advantage in the narrow hall. She swung at and kicked the zombies to give her enough clearance to get back to the vent. She wrenched at the cover to get it free, and squeezed into it as a few hungry zombies got close enough to swipe at her legs. "Damn it's cold in here! Must be the air conditioning vent." She was glad that she had stolen those clothes now. She crawled until the haunting moaning behind her started to fade. Then she simply laid still in the vent until she could think things through.

_I guess they're able enough to climb stairs but not objects, seeing as though they haven't followed me in here. Now what? Think! What kind of stuff do I actually know? Mall design; vents, shafts, warehouses, storage, maintenance tunnels, offices, lights…wait a minute, lights! Usually there are empty spaces above stores or halls filled with just maintenance bridges for fixing lights and stuff like that. Even better, in areas with high ceilings, there's often access to the high maintenance bridges near those lights directly from inside the mall. If only I had a damn blueprint! Maybe if I get close to a main air conditioning unit there'll be an office or…I don't know a sort of tool shed or something for repairman to use. It's all I got now; guess I'll just try to find it._

With miraculous luck, Kasey heard the loud rumbling of a large, boxy AC unit within only fifteen minutes of freezing cold searching. _They must keep all the main controls near the Entrance Plaza._ She found an opening leading into a bland empty room full of tools scattered on the floor and a ladder leading up onto the roof, where the unit was. It took quite a bit of maneuvering in the small vent to be able to kick the cover off, but Kasey needed those blueprints. The door was closed and there weren't any zombies in the room yet, but she could hear soft moaning from outside the door. _Won't stay safe for long. _Kasey searched through cabinets full of even more tools and cluttered junk, but actually found complete blueprints of the mall in a file cabinet off to the side. She grinned at her amazing luck, "Who would have thought that an architect could be useful in a zombie takeover?" In the room were the controls for the heating and AC units, and after some random button pushing, she managed to turn off the air in the vents. She grabbed a wrench, a screwdriver, a flashlight and extra batteries and climbed back into them, thinking it safer to check the prints in there than waiting for the zombies to cut her off in that room. She used the flashlight to look at the prints as she laid flat on her stomach.

_So…super reporter-man and any friends that he might have would be in the security offices. Pretty smart…the only other entrance would be a door or through a duct on the roof, but I can't reach it from this AC unit area; it's cut off by a wall separating it from the…helipad? Guess that's what they consider an airport around here._

She snickered at herself when suddenly she heard a rumbling sound that came from her stomach. "You've got to be kidding me." Kasey remembered that she hadn't eaten before she left, since she planned on eating at the mall. _And that worked out well._ She looked on the prints for the food court and found that it was one of those areas with high maintenance bridges anyway. She figured she might as well risk the zombies than starving to death.


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: All characters and etc. pertaining to the XBox 360 game "Dead Rising" are property of Capcom._

**Chapter 4**

It was a pain in the ass to reach the food court via vents only. Kasey had to travel through all the store vents in the Entrance Plaza and Al Fresca Plaza. The whole time she could hear the constant moans of the zombies outside. As she approached an opening leading into the food court she started to hear loud sounds coming from different directions. _Like gunfire. But way too much gunfire, are there people fighting out there?_ As she peeked out of the opening she could only see the half of the food court that was near the doors leading out to a park. She saw the same man from before firing at some higher up target that apparently had a sub-machine gun. _Great, zombies AND crazy people. You're a little out of your league there, guy. Wait a minute, super reporter-man's shown up, backup maybe?_ The reporter walked in while the enemy was reloading, not knowing that he'd become a target, but quickly ducked to the side after being shot at. He went to talk to the other man, they both had handguns. _Guess they're coordinating a plan or something._ She saw the reporter run into the other half of the area while his buddy distracted the enemy. _That's my cue! Go while they're busy!_

She used the screwdriver to quickly remove the vent cover and clumsily fell down onto the floor headfirst. She stood up and saw all the dead zombies that had gotten caught in the crossfire. She looked into the other half of the food court area and saw that it was an old western themed dining area. _Who comes up with this stuff? My dining area's just-what are you thinking?! Move it! If I were a maintenance access, where would I hide? _She managed to slip behind the fake store fronts into a small empty area practically covered in cables and wires. The gunfire raged on. There were what looked like pulley cables hanging around, meant for lifting equipment to the ceiling. _But how do they work?_ She went to the nearest one and gave it a quick yank, then hung on for dear life as the cable rapidly retracted, lifting her quickly towards the ceiling. When she reached the top, she clung onto the metal beams that she could use to cross, glancing straight down only a moment noticing how high she was. _So it's like a window shade… Well that was interesting._ She saw that the gunfight had progressed to the eating area and that a Hispanic man had the sub-machine gun. He was using restaurant signs as cover while the other two men fired at him. He finally got worn out with pain and used one of the pulley cables to escape, right to where Kasey was. "Oh shit." Was all she could say as the man approached, gun still in hand.

She didn't have much time to move anywhere, so she was in plain sight when the man stood on the beams. He pointed the gun at her, and Kasey lifted the only hand that wasn't holding onto a beam. "I'm not armed! I'm not looking for a fight!" The man's face looked angry but also contorted with pain. All he said to her was, "Stay out of my way." His Spanish accent was heavy. He then slowly made his way in the opposite direction._ This is nuts. I'll risk it down with the zombies rather than do a balancing act with a psycho and his gun._ She shuffled off to the side, carefully keeping her balance, and used a different pulley cable to reach the top of a storefront. She saw that the reporter and his friend were still there, so she quickly hid behind one of the fake walls and listened to their conversation._ Can't be too sure about these guys either…_The one man was just thanking the reporter for his help when he retorted, "The name's Frank West, photojournalist, and I'd rather have an explanation than your thanks, Brad."_So would I. So your name's Frank huh, super reporter-man?_


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: All characters and etc. pertaining to the XBox 360 game "Dead Rising" are property of Capcom._

Note from the author: This is where the gore is just getting started, and the next chapter will be longer I promise.

**Chapter 5**

_And your friend is Brad. Got it. _Their conversation continued. It seemed that Brad was part of the Department of Homeland Security, and was looking for a certain man. _DHS? So the guy who pointed his gun at me was a terrorist? _Frank must have gotten a picture of the man in question and was using it to get info from Brad. _Very clever Frank_. The two made somewhat of an agreement and were going to the Entrance Plaza, where Frank had taken the picture.

_So do you follow them, or continue on your own? They seem sane enough, but I still don't want to get in their way._ Kasey made her way down into the food stands while making her decision. The want of possible safety led her to decide to follow them. After she chugged down some milk and fruit, she stacked barrels to get back into the vent. When she started to enter it, her face cringed because of the horrid smell that she apparently hadn't noticed before. _The zombie stench must've finally got in here._ She continued to lift herself into the vent. She started to crawl towards the shops leading through Al Fresca Plaza when she turned a corner and paused. A person was lying in the vent; they looked like they had passed out. _Finally! Another survivor smart enough to use the vents! _Kasey quickly crawled toward the person -man or woman she didn't care- but stopped about two feet from them. She saw bite marks decaying on the person's shoulder, and most importantly, she realized that the stench was coming from _them._ _It looks like the bites don't heal very quickly or at all for that matter._ "Hey, are you still alive?" She doubted it, but at the sound of her voice the person started to move. They turned their head towards Kasey and gave a low grunting sound. To her horror, the person's gaze was blank, their face still intact but their skin was pale. The sight of Kasey must have sparked a determination in the creature, for it started to crawl excitedly toward her. _Oh shit, oh shit, have to get out. Get out!_

Kasey desperately crawled backwards through the small space, pushing back hurriedly with her hands, trying to get around the corner she came from. She got stuck trying to bend around it as the determined zombie inched towards her. As Kasey struggled to get away, it reached out and grabbed her left hand. Kasey flailed her left hand as she reached for her pockets with the right. The zombie refused to let go and brought its gaping mouth towards her hand. Right before it started to feast on her fingers, Kasey pulled out the screwdriver from her pocket and stabbed it firmly into the zombie's left eye socket. Its grip loosened and its head dropped. Kasey did nearly the same out of relief, then she continued to back out of the vent. _Great. Psychos in the ceiling, zombies on the ground, and now people turning into zombies in the vents. I can't risk getting trapped like that again._

She exited the vents to find that a few zombies had found their way into the food court. They slowly turned their heads in her direction and started to shuffle towards her, some with their arms extended in a sort of desperate hunger. Kasey ran behind the storefronts and grabbed a loose lead pipe. "Okay, let's do this!"


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: All characters and etc. pertaining to the XBox 360 game "Dead Rising" are property of Capcom._

Note from author: I have this strange habit of cheering on survivors in the game if they do well. Take Brett, for example, from the gunshop. I must have been replaying this part when I was writing this chapter and for some reason I got him mixed up with Burt, from behind the barricade. I absolutely HATE getting info wrong, so please feel free to correct me whenever I make a mistake, thank you anonymous reviewer. Here's Chapter 6 with the corrected name. (And Chapter 7 is almost done I promise)_  
_

**Chapter 6**

As the first zombie staggered in front of her, Kasey swung the pipe as hard as she could at its head, half of its face peeling off and falling to the floor on contact. She immediately put her hand over her mouth and swallowed back the bile that had risen in her throat, now was not the time to blow chunks. She made her way to the doors leading to Al Fresca Plaza, using a running push to get through the zombies leaning against them. She took in awe the massive amount of what were formerly people wandering aimlessly through the path. Immediately to her left she saw something that made her hopes rise; a home and garden shop, with motor chainsaws showing in the front window.

She ran into the store to find it surprisingly empty. The chainsaws were on the floor, placed randomly as if someone had brought them out and fumbled with them. _Yeah, and probably found that they had no gas--_ But then she saw small puddles of shiny fluid on the floor, and followed it up to the shelves, to the scattered bottles with the caps removed. She picked up the nearest chainsaw and pulled the cord, but all she heard and felt was a small rumble rise and fall again to silence. A few zombies from outside noticed her. Kasey was about to drop the heavy tool but decided to give it just one more try. She pulled the cord faster this time and the chainsaw came roaring to life. _Someone up there loves me._ As a zombie reached for her she quickly lifted the chainsaw and cut off its hands. The zombie took no notice and kept coming, many others following its lead. She plowed through them, blood splattering to all sides of her, but as she reached the door, she hit the frame and the chain snapped, the saw sputtering to a stop. The zombies started to crowd around her. In a panic, Kasey ran to the back of the store and grabbed a shovel off of a shelf. She held it in both of her hands, and as she started to charge toward the crowd of zombies, she saw Frank and Brad beyond the store windows running back to the food court. Brad was firing his gun and Frank had…_a barbell?_ Kasey managed to push past the zombies to find Frank and Brad already gone. _Shit! I have to catch up!_

Then suddenly she heard the sound of benches screeching across the pavement and one, no, two men yelling at each other. One of them cried out for help while the other yelled at him to shut up. _They might need my help, but Frank and Brad are getting away…_ As more zombies turned their attention towards her, Kasey made a quick decision to help the two guys. She used her shovel to push past any wandering zombies until she saw the guys from the restaurant yesterday piling benches and boards by a store entrance before running inside. The makeshift barricade was flimsy enough for Kasey to get through it by removing one board. The first thing she saw was a fist flying at her face. She instinctively ducked it while the man's fist hit the wall. "Stop!" was all she could manage to say, but the man--well, hardly a man now that she saw him closer, a teen, more like--cursed and rubbed his fist, giving her an angry look.

"What do you want?" he sneered.

"I came to help!"

"How?! How do _you_ expect to help us?!"

"Well…I wasn't sure…" _Wow, I really didn't think about it. _"But I know that blocking yourselves in here is near suicide!"

"Yeah? You got a better plan?!"

The other teen cowering in the back of the room interjected with "Burt, she's only trying to help-"

But Burt didn't listen.

"Do you know somewhere _safer_ to go?"

"…no, well not yet, but there are these two guys that might know-"

He interrupted her.

"If you don't have any other way of helping us then get the hell out! You'll only slow us down!"

Kasey became severely pissed off at Burt.

"The only thing I would slow down is your imminent death! But you're too much of a jackass to think that anybody else's plan is better than yours!"

A lone zombie stumbled into the room announcing its presence with a low moan. Burt's face turned red with anger.

"You let them in you bitch! Get out before I kill you myself!"

Burt then picked up a baseball bat that he had leaned against a wall and whacked the zombie so hard it flew outside of the store. He then grabbed Kasey by the collar and threw her out through the small opening that she had entered from. As she quickly turned around she saw Burt stack another board blocking the entrance. She tried to move it again but Burt must have been holding it. _I have to talk some sense into them. Into one of them at least._ Zombies started to take notice so she made her final attempt. She spoke loud enough for them to hear past the barricade, but gently this time, hoping to reach out to the nicer of the teens.

"Hey. Aaron, it was Aaron right? You have to get out. You'll trap yourself in there. Get out of there before both of you die."

Burt pounded on the board in an apparent attempt to scare her away, so Kasey picked up a wooden piece of debris and started to make her way back to the food court. _So much for survivors._

She managed to get into a fitness center close by before she started the Frank chase again. There she grabbed a few towels to wipe herself off and kept an extra clean one tied around her arm. Weaving her way through the countless number of zombies, she made it back to the food court. _Let's see…if Frank came and left through the park doors, he either went to North Plaza or Paradise Plaza._ She had the mall map practically memorized now. To avoid zombies, Kasey went onto a landing that was like a small restaurant. The zombies apparently had trouble getting up the short amount of steps. It was then that she felt a small tug on her jacket. She turned around startled only to find a small girl standing in front of her. She couldn't have been more than two years old.

"Momma…go boom! Ouch!" she said in her tiny voice, clapping her hands together and pointing to her leg. Worry beyond her years was showing on her face.

"Where is your momma sweetie?"

The little girl trotted away, leading Kasey behind the circle of counters in the center of the landing. A woman in a green sweater was sitting slumped against an oven; blood covered one of her legs. Kasey immediately ran over and kneeled beside her, "Ma'am are you okay?" _Of course she's not okay, I can't even see her wound because of all the blood. _The woman lifted her head wearily and held out her arms to hold the little girl, "Grace, my baby, don't ever leave me like that again."


End file.
